This invention relates to an improved frame and storage tank construction for industrial vehicles, such as tractor shovels.
In the prior art types of tractor shovels shown in FIG. 1, the front frame 52 and the rear frame 53 are coupled through a vertical shaft around which the frames can mutally pivot. An engine is installed at 54 in the rear part of the rear frame 53. An engine fuel tank 55 is externally mounted in front of the left rear tire 56 on the outside of the left side plate 57 of the rear frame. A hydraulic fluid tank (not shown) for the hydraulic pressure cylinders 59 of a shovel 58 is located at a position symmetrical to that of the fuel tank 55, that is, in front of the right rear tire and on the outside of the right side plate of the rear frame.
Accordingly, in such a conventional frame construction the two tanks do not contribute to the rigidity of the frame assembly, which rigidity cannot be increased without increasing the thickness of the plates of the frame assembly. Therefore, the conventional frame construction is disadvantageous in that its cost is high and its weight is heavy, and substantial tank installation work is unavoidably required in the frame assembly process.